The end of Fate
by LorienLegend
Summary: Tauriel never sailed for the Undying Lands,choosing to wait out the ages of the world alone. Through this, she affects all that had come to be, all that is the past, and all that will be. Contains slight nods to Peter Jackson and Tolkien himself


"One espresso please." Tauriel ordered. Amused, she stared at the Tauriel poster on the side of the coffee shop.

Many things had developed around her since she had last been among her kind. She had picked up many things along her years. Coffee was just one of them.

Much had changed since then.

Erebor, the lonely mountain, had long since disappeared. The slow eroding of the earth had changed it's high peak. Men had pillaged and raped the dwarves of the their treasure, destroying all in sight. She couldn't even remember where it was anymore. Mirkwood? Not a trace of her homeland had remained. It's beauty and forest lost to the earth. Parts of it had become the country Italy, a much beloved place, but no longer was it a home.

Indeed, much had changed since the ages.

Her own history too, had slowly been forgotten together with the memories of her people.

Grimacing, Tauriel sat down on plush leather chairs. Thinking of her time had always been difficult. Time had moved on, much as it had then, and the sons of Edan had slowly corrupted the beauty of her homeland. She was now a relic of the past, travelling through time with an unknown future, having long passed a life worth she could still remember Sindarin as it once was spoken, the familiar lilting of it's tongue, almost as if she had never forgotten it.

She wondered how long she could stay here for. 5 more years maybe? 6? It wouldn't be too long before her people caught up on her youthful looks, quite as John had all those years ago.

My dear professor Tolkien, how would you like to write a book ?"

~  
>She had mourned the loss of John Tolkien, a close friend, almost as much as his own children had. Tauriel had watched the unsteady child grow old, withered, and write her history down in books. She had loved him as a friend, a past, and something she could never quite forget.<p>

But still, those times had eventually passed through the age of man, just not the elvish memory. He had ever asked her, once, if it had been a curse that she could never forget. What could have been her answer? Something's were fated to last the tales of time. Certainly, the elves passing had never faded. Her last kin's departure were none the less clear as they had been in that age.

"Tauriel." Legolas spoke worriedly. His friend had stood at the edge of Ithillien, muttering, murmuring, so softly he could not hear her.

"Our ships, they will sail within the next week." The elves departure from middle earth was imminent. Their time had finally come, they could not delay any longer. Aragorn's passing had only made this journey somewhat easier to make.

"Legolas." Tauriel whispered. Her eyes were shining bright with unshed tears, bearing the scars of Kili's death.

"I will not be sailing for the Undying Lands." Legolas found he could not answer his friend. Her intention had been made clear. Tauriel would wait the years alone.

"So be it."

How many centuries ago had that been? Since she had made that decision? Indeed, her choice had been to wait out eternity, alone. It hadn't dulled the ache of her heart.

Yet their histories lived on, in the stories of a certain John Tolkien's writing, in a language little understood.

**But they lived on.**

She had been particularly amused Peter's version of herself. Under her request, Tauriel hadn't quite looked the same way she had in the second age. A bit shorter, with an altogether different image.

But Kili,oh Eru, Kili . He looked as if he hadn't aged a day. Watching Aiden Turner play him had been an interesting two years.

Tauriel's quick foot steps echoed throughout Weta workshop

"Peter!" She called out. She slammed the photo of Aiden Turner down on the table. Peter was a short man, not very tall, and she was almost certain he had hobbit roots somewhere.

"He's Kili."

Too much had changed from tale to tale, too much had disappeared. She had allowed Peter the ability of a "filmmaker's directions" but never once had she expected that.

It had been quite evident that-

Suddenly,a hot drink spilled forth, burning her right wrist and waking her from her reminiscing.

"I'm so sorry!" A hand reached down with a paper towel, trying to mop up the mess. Tauriel's ears pricked to the sound of the voice. It had been familiar, nostalgic almost. Perhaps she had spent too much time pondering over Kili. This was simply too much. She looked at the curly mass of black hair in front of her, bending down in an effort to clean up the spill that came from a large portion sleeve of her shirt down to the table in front of her. _Almost too much ._

"Are you ok?"

Tauriel's breath caught in her throat. Looking at her was the same set of brown orbs as those 6 ages ago, by Mahal, they looked as if he hadn't aged a single day .

"Kili." She breathed out. The dwarf hadn't heard or recognised her. But those eyes, oh Eru. She could swear she saw a flicker of recognition run through them.

"Sorry have we met before ?" He wondered. Tauriel's heart nearly stopped in her chest. There couldn't be a chance... No... Did he? Recognise her?

"No..." She whispered out. She had never met this man in her too long life. Only his _soul._

"That's funny, you look familiar.."

They locked eyes for a second time, and this round Tauriel swore she saw the dwarf in that battlefield right in front of her. The enthusiasm for life, that love for nature and family. He, after all, in his uncle's words had valued food and cheer and song over hoarder gold.

"Kilian! We have to leave now! Uncle Theo will kill us if we don't make it to Eichenschild meetings on time!" The more or less still rememberable voice floated through her mind. She almost let out a bemused smile. Even in the afterlife they could not be parted. Of all times it was still the same brother, the same . And under the same family too. Eichenschild. _Oakenshield_ . She should have known in the line of Durin, the long withstanding dwarves, would name their company so.

"Coming Findley!" She saw Kili( or Kilian?) turn back towards the brown headed boy and almost yelled out.

"Say what." He scribbled down his number on a napkin.

"Call me ok? I'll pay for your shirt . Or coffee. Whichever." And he ran off, leaving Tauriel with a number, a name and a memory.

Perhaps the Valar had a strange way with fate after all.


End file.
